Last week, a report about a purported rift between Aliko Dangote, the president of Dangote group and Tony Elumelu, Chairman of the United Bank for Africa, emerged in the media and went viral.
The report stated that unlike the cordial, respectful and mutually beneficial relationship and bromance between Dangote and Femi Otedola, a power and banking mogul, Dangote and Elumelu’s relationship is fraught and characterised by deep-seated resentment and mutual antipathy. The publication titled “Aliko Dangote Speaks Out on Why He Distanced Himself from Tony Elumelu’ claimed the animosity was not unconnected to what transpired during the construction of Dangote’s 650,000 barrel per day largest single train refinery in Lagos.
The publication alleged that while building the refinery Dangote became cash-strapped and had to turn to his wealthy friends and longtime business associate like Mike Adenuga, Femi Otedola and Elumelu, adding that while Adenuga and Otedola extended a hand of generosity to Dangote and lent a huge amount for the construction of the refinery, Elumelu did not come through for Dangote and eventually stopped picking up his call.
But did Dangote truly reach out to his friends for financial assistance when the construction of his refinery hit a snag?
On Monday Dangote and Femi Otedola issued a statement debunking the publication, describing it as false and malicious.
Otedola in a statement on X on Monday, stated categorically that he had no financial involvement in the refinery project, adding that there was never a time during the construction of the refinery that Dangote reached out to any individual for funds.
“Reports claiming that Femi Otedola funded the Dangote Petroleum Refinery are completely and utterly false. He has not invested a single kobo, not one dollar, not one naira
“I can categorically state that at no point did Alhaji Dangote request financing from Mr Elumelu, Mr Adenuga and me. The Dangote Group is a well-structured organisation that is well versed in raising structured capital for its operations,” he added.
For his part, Dangote group in a statement by its spokesperson, Anthony Chiejina, on Sunday dismissed allegations that the Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals was financed through personal borrowing from friends, noting such an arrangement is against the disposition of Dangote. He also refuted claims that Dangote and Elumelu are not on speaking terms.
“The Group categorically rejects claims that the development of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals was financed through personal borrowing from friends. These assertions are wholly inaccurate and constitute a deliberate misrepresentation of facts. As a matter of principle, Aliko Dangote neither finances his projects through personal borrowing from friends nor engages in lending arrangements of that nature. Any individual making such claims should provide verifiable evidence to substantiate them.
“Equally false are suggestions of any estrangement between Aliko Dangote and Mr Tony Elumelu, with whom he maintains a longstanding and cordial relationship,” he said
Even though the parties involved have strongly denied the claim concerning the funding of Dangote’s refinery, there is still a need to separate fact from fiction.
According to the publication, Dangote made the remark recently while speaking at an event.
However, an extensive search on Google did not return any result of Dangote even tangentially commenting on his refinery and the involvement of his business associates in its construction. Dangote spoke at three different events in April and not once did he make a comment about Elumelu or the funding of his refinery.
On April 27, he was inducted as an Honorary Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Engineering, speaking at the event he underscored the importance of engineering to his business empire, noting that it was built on engineering excellence, technology, and innovation. A day before that, he spoke on strengthening trade ties between Nigeria and Saudi Arabia following meetings with a Saudi envoy. In early April, he participated in discussions with the NGX Group regarding cross-border listings and integrating African capital markets.
Funding of Dangote’s refinery.
Dangote’s $20 billion refinery was financ financed through a combination of approximately $5.5 billion in borrowed debt and massive equity investments from his own company, Dangote Industries Limited. Major backing included loans from Afreximbank ($2.5B+), Africa Finance Corporation, and various Nigerian banks.
In March this year, African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) announced that it had underwritten US$2.5 billion in the US$4-billion senior syndicated term loan in favour of Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE (DPRP).
Afreximbank and Access Bank were appointed co-Mandated Lead Arrangers for the five-year facility to consolidate existing financing, optimise its capital structure and align with the refinery’s operational status and long-term growth plan.
In 2024, Dangote disclosed that he had already paid off about $2.4 billion of the $5.5 billion he borrowed to build the refinery located in Lagos.
He praised the Afreximbank and Nigeria’s Access Bank for supporting the project, adding that without banks like African Finance Corporation (AFC), AfreximBank and others, it would be difficult to industrialise the African continent, because they are the financial institutions that understand the challenges and the issues peculiar to the continent.
With the available and publicly verifiable record, there is no proof or document to support the claims that Dangote reached out to his affluent and well-connected friends for financial assistance to build his refinery, nor is there any conclusive evidence that he severed ties with Elemelu for not helping him to build the refinery.
